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Medusa is the second solo album by the Scottish singer Annie Lennox, released in March 1995. It consists entirely of cover songs, all originally recorded by male artists. It entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 1 and peaked in the US at number 11, spending 60 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart. It has since achieved double platinum status in both the UK and the U.S. and sold more than 6 million copies worldwide.

Background and release

The album yielded four U.K. singles: "No More I Love You's" (which entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 2, Lennox's highest ever solo peak), "A Whiter Shade of Pale", "Waiting in Vain" and "Something So Right".

The album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammy Awards of 1996, losing to Turbulent Indigo by Joni Mitchell, however, Lennox took home the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance award for her work on the first single "No More I Love You's". This album was re-released in late 1995 in a double jewel case containing the album Medusa and a nine-track bonus CD featuring the studio version of Paul Simon's "Something So Right" (with Simon guesting on vocals and guitar) and eight tracks recorded live from the concert in Central Park: "Money Can't Buy It", "Legend in My Living Room", her Eurythmics hits "Who's That Girl?", "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" and "Here Comes the Rain Again", along with "Why", "Little Bird" and "Walking on Broken Glass".

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Entertainment Weekly	C−
Los Angeles Times
The New York Times	(Mixed)
Rolling Stone

Professional reviews for Medusa were mixed, ranging from favourable to outright hostile. Allmusic notes that critics "savaged" the album upon release: Trouser Press was probably the most severe in its criticism, characterizing Lennox's interpretations of classic material as "obvious", "milquetoast" and "willfully wrongheaded" (although reviewer Ira Robbins did single out the track "No More I Love You's" for genuine, if backhanded, praise).

Meanwhile, Rolling Stone gave the album a more positive, though still mixed review:

Annie Lennox called her justifiably popular solo debut Diva, but it's actually on the follow-up effort Medusa that she really starts acting like one. This wildly uneven album of cover versions starts with perhaps its highest point—a truly wonderful interpretation of "No More I Love You's", a relatively obscure British hit by The Lover Speaks. Unfortunately, Lennox doesn't work the same magic with more familiar material like Al Green's "Take Me to the River" and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale".

Track listing

B-sides

Personnel

• Produced by Stephen Lipson
• Engineered and mixed by Heff Moraes
• Pre-production by Marius de Vries

• Annie Lennox – all vocals, keyboards, flute
• Stephen Lipson – programming, guitarm keyboards, bass

• Martin De Vries – keyboards and programming
• Peter-John Vettese, Andy Richards, Mathew Cooper – keyboards
• Luís Jardim – bass, percussion
• Tony Pastor – guitar
• Dan Gillen, Neil Conti – drums
• Doug Wimbish – bass
• Judd Lander, Mark Feltham – harmonica
• Pandit Dinesh – tablas
• Kirampal Singh – santoor
• James McNally – accordion

• Anne Dudley – orchestral, brass and string arrangements

Live in Central Park

Although no tour was held to promote this album, Lennox played a one-off concert in Central Park, New York City on 9 September 1995. This was subsequently released on video as Annie Lennox in the Park and on DVD as Annie Lennox Live in Central Park.

Information

• Director: Joe Dyer
• Recorded: Live at Central Park, Summerstage, New York City, 8 September 1995
• Release date: December 1995 (video); December 2000 (DVD)
• Label: BMG/Arista
• Run time: 90 minutes

Track listing

1. "Money Can't Buy It" (Lennox)
2. "Legend in My Living Room" (Lennox, Vettese)
3. "Walking on Broken Glass" (Lennox)
4. "No More "I Love You's"" (Hughes, Freeman)
5. "Who's That Girl?" (Lennox, Stewart)
6. "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (Lennox, Stewart)
7. "Waiting in Vain" (Marley)
8. "I Love You Like a Ball and Chain" (Lennox, Stewart)
9. "Little Bird" (Lennox)
10. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (Lennox, Stewart)
11. "Train in Vain" (Jones, Strummer)
12. "Why" (Lennox)

Promotional video clips

13. "No More "I Love You's"" (Hughes, Freeman)
14. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (Reid, Brooker, Fisher)
15. "Waiting in Vain" (Marley)
16. "Something So Right" (Simon)

Awards

Grammy Awards

Certifications

Charts

Chart procession and succession

References

1. BPI Searchable database
2. RIAA Gold and Platinum Database
3. Amazon.com: Medusa/Live in Central Park: Music: Annie Lennox
4. Allmusic review
5. Entertainment Weekly review
6. Rosenbluth, Jean (26 March 1992). "Record Review: ANNIE LENNOX; "Medusa" Arista". articles.latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 November 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
7. Holden, Stephen (10 November 1995). "CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK;They're Adults, And Sound It". Retrieved 7 November 2011.
8. Rolling Stone review
9. savaged
10. http://trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=annie_lennox
12. Strauss, Neil (5 January 1996). "New Faces in Grammy Nominations". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
13. "Discos de oro y platino" (in Spanish). Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
14. "Austrian album certifications – Annie Lennox – Medusa" (in German). IFPI Austria.
15. "Canadian album certifications – Annie Lennox – Medusa". Music Canada.
16. "Les Albums Or". infodisc.fr. SNEP. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
17. "French album certifications – Annie Lennox – Medusa" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
18. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Annie Lennox; 'Medusa')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
19. "Norwegian album certifications – Annie Lennox – Medusa" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway.
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21. "Solo Exitos 1959-2002 Ano A Ano: Certificados 1991-1995". Iberautor Promociones Culturales. ISBN 8480486392.
22. "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011.
23. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Medusa')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
24. id MUST BE PROVIDED for UK CERTIFICATION.
25. "American album certifications – Annie Lennox – Medusa". Recording Industry Association of America.
26. "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 1997". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
27. "australian-charts.com Annie Lennox - Medusa" (ASP). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
28. "austriancharts.at Annie Lennox - Medusa" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Retrieved 7 November 2011.
29. "ultratop.be Annie Lennox - Medusa" (ASP). Hung Medien (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
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31. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 2011-11-07
32. "dutchcharts.nl Annie Lennox - Diva" (ASP). Hung Medien. MegaCharts. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
33. "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste" (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
34. "Album Search: Annie Lennox - Medusa" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
35. ^ "Hits of the world". Billboard. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
36. アニー・レノックス-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック "Highest position and charting weeks of Medusa by Annie Lennox". oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Oricon Style. Retrieved 7 November 2011. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
37. "charts.org.nz Annie Lennox - Medusa" (ASP). Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
38. "norwegiancharts.com Annie Lennox - Medusa" (ASP). Hung Medien. VG-lista. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
39. "swedishcharts.com Annie Lennox - Medusa" (ASP) (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 November 2011.
40. "Annie Lennox - Diva - hitparade.ch" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
41. "Chart Stats - Annie Lennox - Medusa" (PHP). UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 7 November 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
42. "allmusic ((( Medusa > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
43. "Austriancharts.at - Jahreshitparade 1995" (ASP) (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
44. "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1995". RPM. Retrieved 3 October 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
45. "Les Albums (CD) de 1995 par InfoDisc" (PHP) (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
46. "Hitparade.ch - Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1995" (ASP). Swiss Music Charts (in Swedish). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
47. "CIN Artist Albums - Year-End - 1995". Retrieved 7 November 2011.
48. "Billboard.BIZ - Year-end Charts - Billboard 200 - 1995". billboard.biz. Retrieved 7 November 2011.

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